On Mistakes
You're in the BitchMobile and DB is at the wheel, quite rightly.
We're cruising down the expressway when DB turns to you and says "We should pull off this highway and get some lunch." Your stomach has been growling so you say "Go for it" and look ahead to see if there are any signs for a restaurant at the next exit.
Before you know what's happening, DB says "Great. HANG ON!" and violently swerves off the highway, down the embankment and into a ditch. Steam streaks up through the crumpled hood. The BitchMobile will require an expensive tow and repair job.
That's the elaborate set-up. Here's the question: Knowing what you know now, were you wrong to agree to lunch?
Was it wrong to want food? If you could go back in time, would you say no? Is the lesson you have learned from this experience that you should never want to eat when you are in the car? There are no restaurants in the ditch. Let's just say that there wouldn't even have been one at the next exit. The whole adventure is a disaster. Do you still think lunch is a good idea?
The truth is DB didn't treat you or the car with respect. DB should have stayed on the road and only exited if it was an actual exit and there were signs indicating that our departure at that exit would be rewarded with a delicious lunch.
The truth is you were right to expect better. Your mistake might have been trusting DB to drive, but it clearly isn't fair to assume your decision was wrong because the result was terrible.
Liberal bloggers are cheering every time they hear a Democrat say that he made a mistake by voting for the president's authorization to use force in Iraq. DB supposes that if it will get them elected, then it may be a good thing, at least for them.
But DB also firmly believes that the worst kind of mistakes are the ones that are repeated and that mistakes are only repeated for two reasons: One, people don't learn anything from their mistakes, or two, people learn the wrong lessons entirely.
DB thinks it's too easy to say the vote was a mistake. The problem wasn't the vote. The vote is the culmination of a decision-making process that is based upon investigation and analysis.
If they want to confess to making a mistake it should be that they didn't fight hard enough to find out the truth when it mattered. If they want to learn the right lessons from this fiasco, it should be that more thought and scrutiny must be applied in decisions that are a matter of life and death for our citizens and standing in the world. It should also be that the responsibility of declaring war is not something that should be simply handed over to the executive branch.
The Bush administration is the most culpable of all, and trusting them was probably the biggest mistake. But DB isn't as worried about people trusting this crew anymore.
We're cruising down the expressway when DB turns to you and says "We should pull off this highway and get some lunch." Your stomach has been growling so you say "Go for it" and look ahead to see if there are any signs for a restaurant at the next exit.
Before you know what's happening, DB says "Great. HANG ON!" and violently swerves off the highway, down the embankment and into a ditch. Steam streaks up through the crumpled hood. The BitchMobile will require an expensive tow and repair job.
That's the elaborate set-up. Here's the question: Knowing what you know now, were you wrong to agree to lunch?
Was it wrong to want food? If you could go back in time, would you say no? Is the lesson you have learned from this experience that you should never want to eat when you are in the car? There are no restaurants in the ditch. Let's just say that there wouldn't even have been one at the next exit. The whole adventure is a disaster. Do you still think lunch is a good idea?
The truth is DB didn't treat you or the car with respect. DB should have stayed on the road and only exited if it was an actual exit and there were signs indicating that our departure at that exit would be rewarded with a delicious lunch.
The truth is you were right to expect better. Your mistake might have been trusting DB to drive, but it clearly isn't fair to assume your decision was wrong because the result was terrible.
Liberal bloggers are cheering every time they hear a Democrat say that he made a mistake by voting for the president's authorization to use force in Iraq. DB supposes that if it will get them elected, then it may be a good thing, at least for them.
But DB also firmly believes that the worst kind of mistakes are the ones that are repeated and that mistakes are only repeated for two reasons: One, people don't learn anything from their mistakes, or two, people learn the wrong lessons entirely.
DB thinks it's too easy to say the vote was a mistake. The problem wasn't the vote. The vote is the culmination of a decision-making process that is based upon investigation and analysis.
If they want to confess to making a mistake it should be that they didn't fight hard enough to find out the truth when it mattered. If they want to learn the right lessons from this fiasco, it should be that more thought and scrutiny must be applied in decisions that are a matter of life and death for our citizens and standing in the world. It should also be that the responsibility of declaring war is not something that should be simply handed over to the executive branch.
The Bush administration is the most culpable of all, and trusting them was probably the biggest mistake. But DB isn't as worried about people trusting this crew anymore.
Labels: Bush
